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Saturday, November 2, 2013

Trip to Chicago Part 2

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Okay, here's the continuation of the Chicago trip:

Saturday's breakfast was one of the highlights of the trip for me. It
took us about half an hour (walking) to get there, but when we finally
found Do-Rite Donuts the walk was totally worth it. Do-Rite Donuts
serves gluten-free donuts that are almost better than the real thing. I
kid you not. The chocolate glazed was crunchy on the outside, fluffy on
the inside, and the chocolate ganache was rich without being overly
rich. As good as the donuts were, I need protein for breakfast so we
also ate at a little cafe called The Corner Bakery. There I got this
thing called an Anaheim Scramble. It had eggs, bacon, tomatoes, and
avocado in it. That was also delicious.

After breakfast we went to Millennium Park. It's a beautiful park and the art there is definitely different, but amazing all the same. In case you don't know, Cloud Gate (aka the Bean) is in Millennium Park and there's basically no way to describe how ingenious that sculpture is. It's made of stainless steel so it reflects the city skyline. Underneath, it's like there's an infinite number of mirrors. It's actually just the inside of the Bean reflecting off itself, but it's super cool. We also saw these pig sculptures made of ceramic, as you can see below:

We didn't have much time for lunch after Millennium Park, because it was time for my dad and I to drive out to Downer's Grove for the Allegiant Tour (a book signing by Veronica Roth, author of the Divergent series)! We got there about 50 minutes early and there was already a long line waiting at the door. Fortunately, by the time we parked and walked up to the building, the line had shrank quite a bit. I was practically dying on the inside. I was shaking and a nervous wreck, because I didn't wanna say something stupid to her or say nothing at all.

Anyways, during the beginning of the book signing someone came on stage and interviewed Veronica Roth with questions of her own, some from around the world (yes, I mean the world), and others from the audience. Afterwards, Veronica sang backup with her brother, who is a musician, to a song that he wrote about one of the main characters in Divergent. They both are really good singers, which kinda surprised me.

Then came time for the actual book signing. There were about 1,000 people there, so the people hosting the book signing came up with a really clever way of getting everyone's book signed. On all of the tickets there was a number and that was your number for getting your book signed. They would call out the numbers in groups of 50. I was number 622. Suffice to say, it was a pretty long wait. But, Veronica Roth decided it would be a good idea to play Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban while everyone waited. That helped to pass the time. But I still couldn't stop shivering with excitement and nervousness. I went through lots of conversation starters in my mind, but when I actually talked to her it was a very brief conversation. I froze up and couldn't think of anything to say or ask her. And that's the thing I regret the most, but there's nothing I can do now, so....

Moving on, four hours later, my dad and I were back on the road to Chicago. We met my mom and sister at the hotel, then went to a Thai/Chinese restaurant called Big Bowl. We ordered calamari as an appetizer, which had a batter made with sweet potato flour (score!). I hadn't had calamari in a super long time and it's one of my favorite foods, so this made me really happy. For my entree, my mom and I split Pad Thai. It was pretty good, although green curry will forever and always be my favorite Thai dish.

Now, not only did we get to have an appetizer and entree, we also got dessert! The restaurant had these things called mochi. Basically, it's ice cream covered in a dough made of sweet rice flour. There were three flavors: green tea, mocha, and passion fruit. We just ordered the mocha and passion fruit. If you ever get the chance to try mochi, do it. You won't be disappointed.

After that I was exhausted and just wanted to go to the hotel, watch the Food Network, and then go to bed. And I did just that. ;)

Sunday was our last day in Chicago. For breakfast, my mom and I got more donuts (the flavor of the day was candied maple bacon) and went to the Corner Bakery again. We spent the rest of the day at the Museum of Science and Industry. That place is ginormous! You could spend days in there. We only got through about half of it. Some of the exhibits we went to were the Science Storms, You! The Experience, one about inventions that might occur in the new future (including a printer that prints out food you can actually eat), a coal mining "tour", and a couple others. We even got to see a 3D movie about Space Junk. It was in this huge planetarium and the graphics were great.

These are speakers and they were underneath the screen in the planetarium. They were the largest speakers I've ever seen

The ceiling to the Museum of Science and Industry

A demonstration of an avalanche

A dress made out of LED lights

And that's it. That's the whole trip. If you stuck with me this long, congratulations! ;) If not, that's okay, too.